Rubbing a suds-laden brush over the hood of her car, Shelby grinned when she caught sight of Tazer sprawling out on his back and twisting hedonistically so he could rub against the lawn. She stopped when she heard humming.
The sound was childlike and beautiful. The tune sounded old fashioned, and she was sure she’d never heard it before, so she couldn’t be imagining it. Tazer’s big front paws hung in the air above him, and he rubbed the top of his head against the grass as, like before, phantom hands disturbed the fur on his belly. The dog’s ecstatic reaction told her those hands belonged to someone who loved dogs, was familiar with them, and that Tazer was very pleased to have them petting him.
“Hello, Devonna.”
“Hello, Shelby.” The voice was quiet, childlike, and wavered with the breeze.
“I haven’t seen you for awhile.”
Devonna didn’t answer right away. Her small, transparent hands moved slowly through Tazer’s fur. “Daddy has been spending time with you.” The words were said like they explained everything. Perhaps it was a habit of hers?
“I don’t understand.” Shelby felt her brow furrow. Would Devonna understand adult sexuality? Would it frighten her? Offend her? She’d died at six, but her ghost had been around for ninety years.
Devonna’s sigh was rife with sorrow and childhood innocence. “Daddy stays here because I’m here. I stay because I don’t want him to be alone. But I remind him how sad he is. Nana and my brother Bertie, they missed me, but Daddy, he hurt all the time. He never let them know. He never let anybody know.”
“He wants to see you but can’t bring himself to look. Is that it?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes we just miss each other. We…drift.”
After a time the humming resumed. Fascinated, Shelby set down her long-handled brush and watched Tazer arch with pleasure. The humming faded when the rustling of his fur stopped. The dog jerked and rolled onto his belly, snorted like he did when something annoyed him, looked around, then dropped his head onto his forepaws.
Small feet crunched the gravel as they moved past Shelby’s position.
“Good-bye, Devonna. Please come visit me again.”
“Good-bye, Shelby,” that quiet, childlike voice replied. “I will.”
Shelby caught the scent of flowers. It faded almost as soon as she smelled it. She picked up her brush and resumed washing her car.
* * * *
Lee came up for four and a half days around the Columbus Day holiday. The sun had set hours before he arrived that Thursday evening. When she heard his truck pull up, she headed for the front door. Through a sidelight, she caught a glimpse of him bounding up the stairs. These days, he didn’t even bother to stop at his cottage first. Anything he brought up with him would stay in the back of his SUV until he went to the cottage to sleep.
“Hey, stranger,” he called out with unmistakable warmth when she opened the door.
“Hey yourself. How was the drive?”
“Good.” With visible anticipation, Lee sniffed the warm air coming out the open door. He bent over so he could rub Tazer’s face. The dog smiled up at him and angled his body so he could lean into Lee’s shins.
“I made pot roast.” Shelby grinned as she stepped back into the house. She held the door open for him and the dog.
“You’re a goddess. Have I told you that?” As he walked past her, he bent, buzzed a kiss to her cheek, then turned back to the dog. He held out his arms playfully when Tazer spronked alongside him.
“Yes but more often would be better.” As she shut the door, Shelby rubbed her cheek. Hmm. Well that was unexpected. Grinning, she herded the two of them into the kitchen.
After Lee washed up, she used a slotted spoon to separate the carrots and potatoes from the hunk of meat simmering on the stove.
“So, how was work?” he asked, alternating between hovering and setting out wine and salad.
“Good. I received notice about a preliminary IRS meeting for one of my customers.”
“Good? That sounds like it would suck.”
“Well it probably will, but what can you do? Taxes and dealing with the IRS are my bread and butter.” In the middle of cutting into the roast, Shelby held the knife very still when Lee reached around her to snag a piece of beef off the edge of the cutting board. “One day you’re going to lose a finger doing that.”
“It’ll be worth it,” he said and smacked his lips near her ear. Apparently temporarily appeased, he returned to uncorking the wine.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him sniff the contents of a saucepan on a back burner of the big, gas range. Lee poured the mushroom gravy she’d made earlier into a gravy boat and carried it to the kitchen island. There was a perfectly good table on the far side of the room, in an alcove with windows overlooking the side lawn. Somehow, they always wound up eating at the island and seemed to prefer it that way.
“So it’s definite,” he said. “I’m going to Mexico for a couple of weeks next month.” He stuck his finger in the gravy, winced like it was hot, and popped his finger in his mouth. Sighing, he sucked his skin clean.
“That’s unsanitary, you know.”
“I washed my hands,” he said defensively then ruined the effect by licking his lips. “Our company won the contract to build a new section of wharf in Veracruz. Good news for us the cruise-ship industry is finally picking up again.” He sat on his stool and watched her plate the roast.
Like always, Shelby fantasized that some of the gleam in his eye was for her and not just the food she was serving. “So how come you get to go to all the hot vacation spots?”
Lee shrugged. “In March I get to go to Northern Scotland so I can design reinforcement supports for a North Atlantic drilling platform. Talk to me about vacation spots then.” The corners of his mouth turned up when she handed him two platters—one holding potatoes and carrots, the other piled with thin slices of pot roast. “I’m starving,” he groaned and snatched his fingers back when the potato segment he tried to pick up was obviously too hot to hold.
After setting out salad dressing, Shelby climbed up on the stool beside him. She always got a kick out of his enthusiasm for her cooking. She watched him pile food on his plate, tear off a section of the crusty loaf she’d set out, and dip it into the gravy flooding his vegetables. He bit into the bread like he hadn’t eaten in days.
“So what’s on the docket tomorrow, boss?” she asked and started filling her plate.
“The weather’s supposed to be clear so we should take advantage and close up the boathouse. Damn this is good,” he mumbled around a mouthful of meat.
“There are restaurants in Detroit. Good ones even.”
He grinned at her over the rim of his wine glass. “Yeah I know. I just get tired of eating by myself. And the food here is terrific. So’s the company.”
Before she had time to process that comment, Lee was off on another topic.
“This Saturday there’s a Columbus Day parade in town. We should go. I bought some fireworks for afterward. Thought we could let them off down on the beach. I even,” he said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet, “applied for a permit from the county.” He showed her an on-line receipt then resumed eating. “Oh, and don’t plan on making dinner that night.”
“Why?”
“It’s a surprise.” He made a quiet, yummy sound as he forked more meat and potato into his mouth.
* * * *
The next morning, the sun was out. The fall light had a soft, saturated look to it, and the few clouds overhead were so white it almost hurt to look at them. The leaves had started changing color, and the light made the reds and oranges shimmer. Ahead of her, Lee was walking up the stairs from the beach. He was carrying his rowing skiff on his shoulders. She was carrying the oars and lifejackets. Tazer trailed along in their wake, sniffing and cocking his leg at regular intervals.
She was a little disappointed when they reached the garage. She’d been enjoying the view of Lee’s
backside.
“So when the marina sent somebody over to pick up the powerboat,” he said as he lowered his skiff onto two wooden horses he’d set up, “they confirmed they’d do winter maintenance on the engines and shrink-wrap the boat before storing it?”
“Affirmative,” she drawled and began sliding the lifejackets onto pegs on the wall. “Oh and your mechanic’s cute by the way.” She looked up to find Lee frowning at her. “He asked me out.”
“What did you say?” There was no mistaking the hurt in his voice.
She paused before answering. She’d always seen Lee as too good looking to be any good for her. Living in the city, he had to have more women hounding his tasty backside than there were hours in the day. Still, he’d never mentioned anyone and he came up here every weekend, alone.
Maybe there had been more to that hello kiss than a simple greeting between friends.
Shelby grinned. “He was a charmer all right, but I’m pretty sure he’s married. I said no.”
Was that relief she saw on Lee’s face before he turned and stepped out of the garage?
“Well, you know how some guys can be,” he replied vaguely.
She followed him and watched him rattle one of the garage’s storm windows.
“I see Charlie was by this week.”
Charlie Underwood was his part-time maintenance man.
“Yes. He removed the screens and got all the storm windows in. He said he’d be back after the leaves fell to clean the gutters. He’s pretty spry for a man his age. Watching him race up and down those ladders almost gave me a heart attack.”
Looking back at her, Lee flashed her a wry smile. “He’s been working here since I was a kid. I think he knows this place better than I do.” Lee checked his watch. “Looks like we’ve got time to bring the rest of the stuff in before getting cleaned up.”
“We’re getting cleaned up?”
“You bet. It’s not every year I get to show up at the local Columbus Day shindig with a pretty woman on my arm. Come on. I’ll race you.” Running backward toward the lake, Lee held out his arms. He stopped, charged forward, and deked around her at the last minute. The sound of his laughter made her heart swell.
“Think you’re pretty funny, huh?” she taunted. Shelby planted her feet then spun in a move that would do a quarterback proud. “Try keeping up with this, hotshot.” She sprinted for the stairs that led down to the boathouse. The sound of his pounding feet got closer and closer.
“I win,” he shouted as he wrapped his arms around her waist, lifted her, and spun her around so fast her legs stuck straight out. When he finally put her down, he was closer to the stairs, which he took advantage of. “See ya.” With a wave, he took off down to the boathouse.
Shelby was only halfway down when Lee jumped up on the deck boards, spun around, and pumped his fists in a victory dance.
“Yeah, yeah. You know cheaters never prosper,” she huffed.
“This one did.” Wearing a lopsided grin, he held open the boathouse door for her and bowed when she walked inside. “Losers have to carry the smelly boat cushions. Winners get the electric trolling motor.”
“Isn’t there a labor grievance committee I can appeal to?”
“Sure. They’ll tell you the same thing though. It’s in the by-laws.”
Laughing, she gathered up the cushions and a stack of clean beach towels. “Next time, I’m going to get Charlie to do this for me. I fed him lunch when he was here. He’ll do anything for me.”
“You fed him?”
She could hear the hurt in Lee’s voice. Part of it was put on, but she was pretty sure some of it was genuine.
“You bet,” Shelby confirmed with a sure nod. “Made him his favorite sandwich on grilled Panini. Made homemade soup, too.”
“Homemade? Soup?”
Wearing a look of mock sympathy, she wiped imaginary drool off Lee’s chin. “Chicken noodle. Charlie loves me now.”
“His ass is so fired,” Lee muttered as he followed her back up the stairs.
* * * *
The town’s main street had been closed to traffic. Lee found a spot for his SUV in behind the grocery store. Walking around to the passenger side, he helped Shelby down…and glanced at her legs while he did.
“You look beautiful in that dress.” He held out his hand and smiled.
“Th–thank you.” She winced at the sound of her stuttering and covered it up by adjusting the long sweater she’d worn over the casual, patterned dress. Usually, she could hang onto her cool around guys. Trouble was, Lee was in a class way above any other guy she’d been with.
Still holding her hand, he led her through the parking lot and onto the sidewalk.
The parade wasn’t scheduled to start for another twenty minutes or so. Lee filled the time cruising both sides of the street, stopping to talk to people he knew, introducing her, and drawing her into the conversations.
This time of year, there weren’t as many summer residents, but that didn’t seem to matter to Lee. He greeted everybody the same—from pensioners who looked like they didn’t have two nickels to rub together, to women wearing six-hundred-dollar designer flats.
When the parade started, he staked out a place near the curb for them, stood behind her, and looked out over her head with his hands resting on her shoulders. The local high school marching band moved past first. Behind them was a line of restored, antique cars. She and Lee called out and waved when elderly Nan West, the woman they’d met in the diner first time Lee brought her into town, was driven by in the back seat of a pristine 1930s Buick. Nan was decked out in a crisp business suit and a hat that looked like it had been made to match.
“Wow. She looks sharp,” Shelby said, directing her voice back at Lee. She turned back for one more wave before Nan was driven past.
“Sure does.” His hands tightened on her shoulders then slid down to rest on her upper arms. “Almost as good as you.”
Shelby was glad he couldn’t see her face. She was sure she was blushing.
A local daycare came next with the bigger kids on tricycles, the smaller ones sitting in wagons pulled by waving adults. Another band followed them, then a tractor pulling a wagon decorated with local produce. Some tappers and baton twirlers from a dance studio up the street came next. Shelby called out and waved when she recognized the volunteers from the animal shelter. They were leading two dogs apiece.
“Hey, Shelby,” one of the women called out. “How’s Tazer?”
“He loves living on the lake.”
“Bring him by some time. He can have a play date with these guys.”
Shelby could only give a quick nod of agreement as the momentum of the parade carried the woman past.
“Having a good time?” Lee asked.
“Absolutely. I could get used to living here.”
“Hmm. Maybe I’ll have to see about making that happen.”
She swung her head around so she could look at his face. Was he teasing? She felt a little pathetic when she realized how much she wanted him to be sincere. However, like he was being deliberately nonchalant, Lee kept his eyes fixed on the parade. His only reaction was to rub his hands up and down her arms then again take hold of her shoulders. He turned her toward the next exhibit—a fleet of convertibles from a local car dealer carrying members of the town council. After that came an antique fire truck, a modern one, and two rows of firemen in dress uniforms. They tossed Halloween candy into the crowd. Shelby caught some and gave Lee his pick.
When the parade was over, they and the rest of the crowd walked up the now-empty street to the main square. The organizers had brought together a mass choir from four local churches. Again, Lee stood behind her as they listened. When the choir began to rock out, he took her hand and pulled her over to a clearing where at least a dozen other couples were already dancing.
Shelby’s pulse-racing reaction when Lee took hold of her waist and held her close made her feel like an idiot teenager. It was a good thing he was a stron
g lead because, as enthralled as she was by his closeness, she didn’t have the wit to stumble through a two-step. Lee held her up despite that. He smiled down at her with those dark eyes, asked her again if she was having a good time, and chatted with some of the other couples dancing around them.
When the party finally broke up, he led her back to his SUV.
“Ready for dinner?” he asked.
“Absolutely. I’m starving.”
“Good. We’re going to visit a friend of mine. They’re Italian, and they go all out for Columbus Day. They invite me every year.”
He helped her up into the cab, and it seemed to Shelby he held her waist and her hand longer than necessary. She didn’t mind.
Joey and Tabitha Fanella were as fun and gracious as she’d expected. Shelby had a great time talking with the women congregating in the kitchen. She was put to work stirring the polenta while herds of children ran around them, playing and asking when dinner would be ready. The meal featured white fish and red wine. Lots and lots of red wine. Even though she wasn’t driving, she reminded herself to show at least some restraint.
Sitting beside her, Lee talked with his friend Joey and Joey’s brothers about the football season, and about the Redwings’ chances that year. When he wasn’t eating, Lee leaned back, looped his arm around the back of her chair, and cupped his hand over her shoulder.
After dinner, Lee produced a bag of sparklers. In the dark, the kids ran around the back lawn, holding up their sparklers or using them to write their names in the air. He held her hand and laughed with her.
Finally, they made their excuses and drove home. They didn’t say anything during the drive, but Shelby felt Lee’s presence, inches away. She was too aware of him, she realized, and tried to dismiss the growing attraction she was feeling. Tried to dismiss flirting as friendship. But she didn’t want to believe his actions were anything less than testing the water. Despite that, the truth was guys like him hooked up with models or trust-fund babes. Shelby was a nerd who owned a start-up business when fifty-percent of start-up businesses failed within the first two years.
Ghostly Seduction (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 8